Ten migrants have died and dozens more are feared missing after two ships sank off the coast of Italy, a migrant rescue charity and the coastguard said on Monday.
Rescuers who came to aid migrants on a wooden boat off the coast of Lampedusa found 10 bodies below deck, German aid group Rescueship said on X.
The German charity said the crew aboard Rescueship's vessel Nadir “is currently caring for 51 people. For 10 people, rescue operations began too late.”
“A total of 61 people were on board the wooden boat, which was filling with water. Our team managed to rescue 51 people, of whom two were unconscious – they had to be cut out with an axe,” it said.
“The 10 deceased are on the flooded lower deck of the boat,” it said.